


How to be a Serial Killer

by Csribbles



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), How to Be a Serial Killer (2008)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Cheating, F/M, How to be a serial killer AU, M/M, Murder, Not totally crazy Jack, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Teacher-Student Relationship, Violence, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-02-15 13:13:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13031880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Csribbles/pseuds/Csribbles
Summary: A young man named Rhys(Troy Baker) who has spent his whole young career life so far working as a video store clerk(he got the job when he was 17), finds a new purpose in life when he meets a charismatic, and very handsome, serial killer who offers to take him under his wing. The serial killer, known as Handsome Jack(Dameon Clarke), teaches everything he knows about killing to his new pupil, giving him lessons and helping him find his "inner voice"...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So, um, I know i havent been very...active, per se, so here I am with this AU. I will try to start uploading again, I just haven't felt like writing anything in ages... But! I hope you all enjoy this either way!

The door of the video store slammed against the wall as a middle aged man, who was dressed quite nicely, in a black suit with yellow highlights, made his way inside, startling the other customer along with the clerk as he did so. He was talking to someone on the phone, looking around the store in desperation and anger. He finally stopped talking and shoved the phone into his pocket as he made his way to the front.

 

“Hello sir, how may I help--” The clerk had started, trying to be nice to this man, but it simply resulted in him being interrupted by the asshole asking for three very specific movies, to which the clerk told him that he would check on the database. But as he wrote in the name of the first movie, the computer crashed. He apologized for this and the man rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone, which was ringing. Of course it was ringing.

 

“...it’s my wife, I gotta take it.” He answered the call and groaned, speaking in a hushed tone. “Yeah, I got it, I got it! It’s just that there’s this stupid teenager in this stupidly obnoxious blue shirt and tie working as a clerk, and I think he just broke the computer or something-- no the tie isn’t blue, it’s red! Look, I’ll just find us something else, alright? Fuck!” He ended the call and aggressively shoved the phone into his pocket. “Bitch.” He muttered as he moved away from the counter to look around the store.

 

Suddenly, the other customer walked up to the front as well, smirking at the clerk. He straightened the collar of his white unbuttoned button-up slightly and smirked. The clerk asked him if he wanted to rent one of those slasher films, as he had been looking around the section where those were-- and to be fair, he visited the store every fucking week. But instead, he just shook his head and asked for one specific movie-- the same one that the other man had asked for.

 

“Uhh… Yeah, as soon as the computer loads up again--” 

 

“Dude, I’m just fuckin’ witcha. I overheard that asshole talkin’ to ya, and I gotta say, I hate that kinda people. They’re just, ugh, the worst! Am I right, or am I right?” The clerk gave the man a slightly confused look and nodded slowly. 

 

“I-- uh,” The clerk swallowed and glanced at the other customer, making sure he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He surely wouldn't, as he was back to talking on the phone again. “Yeah. He’s such an-- a, uh, a dick.”

 

“Yeah, right?!” The older cackled, staring at the customer with a wicked grin. “Listen, kid-- what’s your name again?”

 

“It’s, uh… Rhys. My name’s Rhys,” The clerk-- Rhys-- told the customer, who just nodded slowly in return.

 

“Right, Rhys.” He sounded it out a few times before making eye contact with Rhys. “Listen, Rhysie, if you could do anything-- and by that I mean literally anything in this world, to him, what would you do?” His voice was a lot more quiet and hushed now, he’d even leaned in closer. This caused Rhys’ blood to run cold, and he swallowed, glancing at the other customer again.

 

“Anything?” Rhys repeated, clearly hesitating.

 

“Anything. And not get caught.” The customers smirk widened as he saw a familiar glint in Rhys’ eyes as the fear turned to something else. “Yeah, that's it. I can practically see the gears turning in your head. So. What would you do? If you could do anything…”

 

“Oh, I can’t even say--” 

 

“Yeah you can!” The man grinned at Rhys, and the boy just swallowed, glancing at the door. If a customer walked in… But the other, almost as if having read Rhys’ mind, walked over to the door and subtly turned the OPEN-CLOSED sign, the boy following each of his movements very carefully. He smirked at the younger as he made his way back to him.

 

“No one here to hear ya but us two,” He nodded to the other customer, “and that asshole over there, but he’s busy talking to that wife of his.” Rhys turned his gaze to the customer with a frown. He was just looking through some movies, still looking really douchey, still talking on the phone, being rude to his wife. “Enough waiting, just tell me. What would you do?”

 

“I would…” He pulled his lower lip between his teeth as he looked back to the man in front of him, tapping his robotic fingers against the desk. “I would smash his head in. With-- with this. It’s very, uh, sturdy.” He lifted his arm to show the other man, barely catching the glint in his eyes as he seemed to first now notice that the clerk wasn’t fully human.

 

“Really? That’s--” The man shook his head with a chuckle, “a friggin nice ass arm. Also very creative. It’s a little messy-- but creative.” He smirked, watching as Rhys made a few pretend punches in the air with a sheepish grin. The clerk dropped his arms as he noticed the older man staring at him like that and gave an awkward laugh.

 

“Or, I could just, y’know. Shoot him. Like…” he rubbed his neck and looked at the well dressed man. “Right in the throat, yeah. Just… A bullet right here,” he pointed to a spot on his throat, before shrugging and dropping his arm to his side. “But I’d need a gun for that.”

 

The other man smirked lifting up his worn out yellow shirt. “One like this?” Rhys’ eyes looked down to not only see well defined abs, but a pistol, shoved into the man's pants. Belt? He wasn’t sure, as the moment he’d noticed the gun, the man had hid it again.

 

“Is-- is that a real gun?”

 

“I mean, duh. You can’t kill someone with a fake gun, unless,” He made a motion with his hand, pretending to smash someone in the head with a gun that he wasn’t holding, “you hit them real hard in the head with it.” That made Rhys chuckle, even if he had flinched slightly, and the man leaned in again. "Y’know, I see something in you, Rhys. Something-- something most people don’t have. And no, I’m not talking about your gorgeous eyes.” He winked as he pulled away, looking back at the other customer. “I see some of myself in you.”

 

But while he was busy watching the asshole walk around the store, Rhys still had his eyes set on his face. “Have you--” The man snapped his gaze quickly back to Rhys and leaned closer, nodding for him to continue. “I mean, you’ve… used that gun? On someone?” The man didn’t reply, he simply smiled darkly at Rhys. That made the boy lean in as well, constantly glancing around the store anxiously. “To be completely honest-- I’ve always wanted to kill someone.”

 

“You can.”

 

“Wh- what do you mean?”

 

“If you want, I can teach you to kill as many people as you want.” Mister yellow shirt murmured, staring deep into Rhys’ soul, it felt like he was, at least.

 

“I dunno…” Rhys let out an anxious laugh, looking away as to make sure the store was still empty-- minus the guy on the phone, of course. But the other man’s gaze darkened and his voice dropped.

 

“Oh, I think you do. Every time I walk in here, and I see you, I see a man who’s not happy with his life, Rhys.” That caused the clerk to shift uncomfortably. He knew he’d been secretly eyeing this guy whenever he came in, but to know that the man had done the same-- he didn’t know how to feel.

 

“You can see that?” His voice was barely a whisper, but the other man was close enough that he could hear each sound. He nodded, his mischievous grin just growing.

 

“Uh-huh. And I can see that there’s a version,” he brought a hand to Rhys’ chest, tugging at his bright red tie, eyes lidded as he spoke, “inside of you, that’s just waiting to be unleashed…” He dropped his hand with a chuckle. He pulled back, the creepy-- and somehow sexual-- tone of it all dropping a notch. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, don’tcha?” Rhys nodded slowly, licking his lips. The man smiled, more genuine this time. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

 

He glanced back at the other customer, who had just about now told his wife he was fed up with this place and that he was coming home. “See, there are times in this life that we have to ask ourselves, am I living up to my potential?” A dramatic pause. “Am I in it, to win it?” With that, he pulled away completely, crossing his fingers in front of his face as  the rude customer walked right past him and left the store without saying a word to them, only muttering something about how crap the store is, Rhys’ eyes following him as he passed by. “So whaddya say?”

 

“Huh?” Rhys looked back at the other man, only to find him staring right at him. Said man smirked and lifted his shirt slightly as he pulled the gun out again, waving it in the air.

 

“Are you in it to win it?” Rhys nodded.

 

“Y-yeah. Yeah! I am in it, to, uh, to win it--” he tried to reach for the gun, but the older just smirked and pulled back, a teasing smirk on his face.

 

“Nuh-uh. You’ve got a lot to learn before you’re gonna get a gun in your hands.” The man chuckled, shaking his hand. “But c’mon, let’s go via the back. So we can catch that asshole before he leaves. Eh?”

 

“Yeah, let’s-- let’s do that.” Rhys sputtered as he led the man to the back and outside, where the customer was right about to get into his car. The man next to Rhys snorted as he looked at the back of his head, and pulled out a few coins and shoved them into his head.

 

“Hey, dipsht! I think I’ll name ya Wallethead!” The man looked up in anger, pulling his phone away from his ear, ending his call, about to start yelling at them for sure, but then the man in the white button up and yellow t-shirt pulled out his gun, and it was pointed at ‘Wallethead’, causing the man to freeze. “You know what's fucking hilarious? That it’s your last day on earth and you decide to act like a total douche. What a friggin moron.” And with that, he shot him. Right in the chest, a soft chuckle leaving his lips as he did so.

 

He turned to Rhys, who just stood there in shock, a little blood on his bright blue button up. “Hey,” He snapped his fingers in front of his face, bringing the boys attention to him instead of the body on the ground. “Y-you okay? Still with me?” Rhys just stared at him like a sheep before nodding. “Y’know, it almost matches your tie.” Rhys let out a small ‘hm?’ in confusion as he cocked his head at the man. “The blood. It’s red. Like your tie.” He brought a hand up to his chest, smearing the blood around slightly. Rhys swallowed. 

 

“It-- it doesn’t really match with the white and yellow for you…” He muttered, dazed and confused, his eyes going to the yellow shirt, and the blood on it, before returning them to the man on the ground. He was trying to get up. The man with the yellow shirt followed his gaze and looked at the asshole, snorting.

 

“We’ve got a live one, huh?” He simply shot him once more, straight in the head, before shoving the gun back into its place with a grin and instead of a few fingers on Rhys chest, it became his entire hand, pressed against his left pec. “Guys like these, they take their lives for granted, when really, we’re all so fucking fragile. I’m here to remind these people that they need to appreciate their lives, each and every day.”

 

“So you’re kind of doing people a favour?” The man chuckled and slapped Rhys gently on the chest before putting both his hands onto his hips.

 

“You’re goddamn right I am.” He grinned at the boy, nodding.

 

“So what now? What are you gonna do with… That?” Rhys pointed at the corpse with a disgusted face. The other just glanced back and shrugged.

 

“Depends. Is wallethead a regular here?” Rhys nodded. "Right. I’ll probably take him out to a shed in the desert and chop him up and bury him six feet deep.” He shot Rhys a grin, but the boy just gaped at him in awe.

 

“So like a secret hideout?”

 

“Yeah, kinda.” The man nodded. They both did that alot. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, all you gotta worry about is calling the city and getting them to get rid of the car. Oh and, help me get the blood off the ground and the body into my car.”

 

The two didn’t spend too long cleaning up, as there wasn’t too much to clean, and the body was now in the trunk of the older man’s nice car. Rhys sighed, about to speak up when suddenly the older was taking off his two top layers and throwing them onto the ground, before taking out pretty much the exact same clothes out of the backseat of his car, just clean versions. After a while of silence, Rhys shook his head and looked up into his eyes.

 

“I’ll see you again, won't I?” 

 

“Duh. This is your new life now, cupcake.” The man grinned and put his hands on Rhys’ shoulders, shaking him a little. “Soon you’ll be selling the blood soaked clothes of your victims on the ECHO-net.” He chuckled, looking down to the space between them, where Rhys’ hands were just fidgeting awkwardly, blood still on his shirt. He huffed and pulled away, making eye contact again. “Anyway, I gotta run now, but as I said before, call the city, and don’t touch anything. You got that, sweetcheeks?” He leaned down and grabbed his dirty clothes and grinned at the boy.

 

“Yeah, but uh-- won’t I need your phone number?”

 

“No need. I know where to find you.” The man was turning to leave, when Rhys spoke up again.

 

“What about your name?” Rhys noticed the man hesitate a second before looking at him with a smile.

 

“Jack. You can call me Jack.” And with that, the man was gone. He just jumped into the car and left. Rhys smiled to himself.

 

“Jack…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, another chapter! ;)

A yellow Lamborghini pulled up into the parking lot of a small mall, specifically in front of the late-night ice cream bar, where a girl sat, clearly waiting for someone. When she saw the car, she’d stood up with two ice creams in her hands and approached the car. The man inside of it rolled down his windows and smirked up at the woman. “Hey, babe.”

 

“Hi, Jack. What took you so long? Your ice cream is all melted,” She told him as she circled to the other side of the car and jumped in, handing him the ice cream.

 

“There was a huge rush at the store, can ya believe that?” The man chuckled at her as he spooned some of the melted ice cream into his mouth. She sighed, smiling softly at him. “The ice cream is still good though--”

 

“Hey, what’s this?” The woman suddenly asked, leaning towards him. He could’ve sworn his heart stopped for a good few seconds as she wiped something off his jaw. “Did you cut yourself while shaving or something?”

 

“No, I don’t…” He looked into the mirror, and then at her fingers. It was definitely blood. He furrowed his brows. “Alright, alright… Confession time. I had a strawberry sundae for lunch today. It’s probably from that.” He smirked at her and grabbed her hand, taking the bloodied fingers into his mouth and sucked off the blood-- or strawberry jam, as he’d told her. “Yep, definitely strawberry.”

 

“Mister health conscious had a sundae for lunch, huh?” She chuckled, raising an eyebrow at him. He simply just shrugged and gave a small frown, hesitating slightly.

 

“Uh, well, you know, I’ve just been a little down lately and I thought some ice cream might cheer me up.”

 

“You’ve been feeling down?” The woman asked, putting down her ice cream as she looked at him with a worried face. He let out a strangled noise.

 

“Well, yeah.”

 

“Did something happen today?”

 

Jack tensed up for a second before letting out a strained breath and smiled at her. “No, no, just, ah, work’s a little stressful, is all. Don’t worry about it. Petty stuff.”

 

“Tassiter?”

 

“...Yeah.” He looked away, his ice cream threatening to fall over as he paid no attention to it. His girlfriend sighed and grabbed it, placed it into the cup holder and put a hand on his shoulder.

 

“I’m sorry hun. Let’s just go home, I’m sure the nanny’s waiting for us.”

 

He chuckled softly. “Home it is, then.” 

  
  


The following day, Jack had dropped by the store he knew Rhys worked at, but Rhys hadn’t been there. So the kid only worked nights, huh? He’d gotten the clerk to give him Rhys’ number, and as soon as he got into the car, he dialed it. It didn’t take long for the boy to answer.

 

“ _ Rhys Summers-- _ ” 

 

“Rhysie!” Jack grinned, hearing a small groan at the other end, probably as a response to his loudness.

 

“ _ Jack? _ ” The boy groggily questioned, and Jack heard some shuffling. He’d woken the kid up, goddamn! He almost laughed, but decided to keep it in-- he wasn’t a total asshole, not all the time.

 

“The one and only.” 

 

There was a short silence before Rhys spoke up again. “ _ How’d you get my number? _ ” 

 

“Ehh, from some guy at the store. His name was something like Va--”

 

“ _ Vaughn _ .” Rhys hummed. “ _ Yeah, he uh, he works there sometimes. He’s my roommate _ .” He explained, sounding slightly less annoyed.

 

“I didn’t know you had a roommate.” Jack muttered, causing the other man to huff and roll his eyes. Jack, of course, didn’t know he rolled his eyes. If he had, he would’ve complained about it.

 

“ _ It would be creepy if you had known that, Jack _ .” The man on the other end said, chuckling at him. The other just shrugged, before remembering that Rhys couldn’t even see him. They should have just Skyped instead-- at least then Jack could also make fun of Rhys and his stupid hair.

 

“Ehh, fair enough.” There was a moment where neither of them said anything, and Jack could hear Rhys shuffling around in his apartment, possibly making himself coffee.

 

“ _ So? _ ” The boy suddenly spoke up, confusing Jack.

 

“Huh?” 

 

“ _ Did you wake me up for a valid reason? _ ” Ohh, right. He had something to tell the kid-- he couldn’t remember what it was, though. He just sat in silence for a moment.

 

“Oh! Yeah, actually-- uhh, you know the park nearby my house?”

 

“ _ I don’t know where you live _ .” Rhys stated, sounding slightly annoyed. Jack just groaned.

 

“Eugh, the one near the Hyperion school and kindergarten?” 

 

“ _ Ah. Yeah, I know where that is. Wait-- you live there? _ ”

 

Jack shrugged, before remembering that Rhys couldn’t see him. “I live in one of the Hyperion owned apartments.” A moment of silence followed after that, and the older man thought the call had cut off or something, about to open his mouth when the man at the other end let out a sound that made him kind of sound like he had swallowed poison and was currently choking-- Jack would have been worried if the man hadn’t actually spoken.

 

“ _ You’re working for Hyperion?! _ ” Rhys practically screeched. He was honestly overreacting.

 

“Uhh… Yeah? Did you see the shirt I was wearing last night, kiddo? Or did the blood distract ya too much? Maybe that’s like, a kink of yours or somethin’,” The older cackled, teasing the boy. But clearly he wasn’t as amusing as he thought he was, as the boy just let out another noise, this time a more disgusted one-- or then the kid just had bad humour. Actually, no, the kid definitely had bad humour, Jack’s jokes were great! All his other friends would surely agree as well...

 

“ _ No, I was too busy thinking about the d-dead body to pay attention to that..! _ ” Fair enough, Jack thought, huffing to himself.

 

“Alright, alright! Just-- drink ya damn coffee and meet me at the park,” He hesitated for a moment, “Or do I need to pick ya up?”

 

“ _ Um, actually, yeah, that’d be great-- uhm. I don’t really have the means to get there right now, Vaughn has my car… _ ” Jack groaned and rolled his eyes, of course.

 

“...Fine. Text me your address.”

 

And that’s how he ended up having to drive around the city to get Rhys and drive back to the park again-- all the while ignoring all the questions Rhys presented about the third person in the car. Half the time holding Rhys’ neck just so that he’d stop glancing back. Once they finally arrived at their destination, Jack ordered Rhys to stay in the car while he walked the child to the kindergarten, before returning to the car a few minutes later. The younger still attempted to bombard him with questions but he quickly shut him up with a hand on his pistol.

 

“That’s more like it--” Jack started, but was cut off by a voice outside the car.

 

“ _ If you don’t take a shit right now, daddy’s gonna have to take you to the vet and have you put down as the first thing tomorrow! _ ” A man was threatening his small dog, standing with his arms crossed, thinking he was tough shit. Jack huffed, looking between Rhys and the guy.

 

“Look at this guy,” he cackled, and the younger just nodded with a slightly disturbed, slightly amused. 

 

“ _ At the count of three… One… Two… Three… Alright, that’s it you ungrateful little cunt _ .” He tugged the dog's leash aggressively, causing it to whimper loudly.

 

“Did he just call his dog a cunt…?” Rhys laughed awkwardly, his voice slightly strained as he looked at Jack, noticing how the man wasn’t even slightly amused, just glaring at the man darkly.

 

“ _ If you shit inside again, I’mma beat your ass… Stupid fucking dog _ .” And with that, the man turned around and practically dragged the dog with him.

 

“What time is it, Rhys?”

 

The boy checked the time on his cybernetic palm, “11.23AM… Why?”

 

“Good, that means we’ve still got time. Get the bag from the back.” With that, Jack stood out of the car, shrugged off his leather jacket and threw it onto the car seat, before slamming the door shut. Rhys had somehow scrambled out of the car and got Jack his bag, from which Jack pulled out a camera that would be strapped onto his forehead, long with a dark long sleeved shirt, leather gloves and a change of shoes. He locked the car, threw the bag to Rhys and started walking. “Let’s get going.”

 

They followed the man and his dog, and Jack left the bag with Rhys when he snuck into the house, taking the man inside by surprise. “Hey, asshole! I don’t like it when people hurt animals,” He stated before lifting the guy by his neck and slamming him into the wall, before throwing him onto the floor and pushed a bookshelf onto him-- it crushed his skull. Grinning to himself, Jack quickly left the scene(with Rhys and the dog), returned to his apartment for a change of clothes(along with wanting to brag to Rhys about his cool Hyperion home), and then they were off again to a shooting range. They were 5 minutes late to their time but that was alright, Jack was on good terms with the owner of the place. It was, after all, where he got all his guns from. He left the dog in Wilhelm’s office, told him how he’d gotten the dog. Wilhelm understood.

 

It was how they’d met, after all. They’d somehow both gotten their eyes on the same victim, some teacher who had abused her pupils. Jack knew about it because they visited there to check if Angel could go to this school-- in the end, they decided no, and just signed her for the Hyperion school system. It was the most trustworthy (and the most expensive) after all.

 

He still to this day didn’t know how Wilhelm had known about it, he’d never pried answers out of him. The man, admittedly, intimidated Jack.

 

“What are we doing here anyway?” The boy questioned while Jack was dragging him inside of the building, to which the man just grinned at him. “Seriously, Jack. I- I don’t know how to shoot guns!”

 

“That’s why we’re here! I’m teaching you how to do that. Hope ya don’t got anywhere to go though, since I rented the whole place for just the two of us, for two hours. We can use all the guns we can find…!” Rhys tried to protest, but before he could do that, Jack was shoving a pair of hearing protectors onto his head with a grin and pushed him into one of the ranges with a loaded pistol shoved into his hand.

 

“J-Jack--” He still tried to protest, but the man just silenced him as he stepped behind him and grabbed his arms, lifting them up, slapping Rhys’ left hand against the gun, as if to coax him to grab it, and so he did. He moved the hearing protector slightly so that Rhys could hear him.

 

“So you know where the trigger is, right? Alright, so, first I’ll teach you how to shoot, and then, uh, we’ll see.” He moved the protector back into place and let go of Rhys. The boy tried to shoot once, then twice, missing the target by a landslide. “Okay, uh, no. No, this won’t work, not at all.” He stepped back towards Rhys, his chest pressed up against him as he guided his arms into the proper position again, looking over his shoulder. He kicked his feet apart and squinted, letting go of his arms and letting his hands down to the young man’s hips. “And… Shoot.”

 

And so Rhys did. It took a couple of tries, especially with the warmth radiating against his back, distracting him to a certain degree, but eventually, he got it right. Jack made him try all kinds of different guns. Guns with silencers, gun’s with a stronger kick, rifles, snipers, shotguns, revolvers… They had a good time, as far as Jack knew, at least. He believed Rhys was having a good time as well. He was sure of it. 

 

And that he was, even though his heart was racing at the speed of a race car, his blood threatening to rush into inappropriate places. He hoped Jack was too focused to notice. What with all the closeness, bodily contact, touching and warmth-- Jack’s face inches from his own... Rhys couldn’t help it. He was young and had little to no experience, so his mind was racing while he tried to fire the guns. Jack seemed to be proud of how he was doing at least; so that was good. 

 

Once they were done there, they went back to the kindergarten to pick up the same kid again(who was very excited over sharing the backseat with a dog), and they drove to Jack’s girlfriends, Abigail's, work. 

 

“She’s a vet?” Rhys asked as they arrived there, shooting Jack a confused look before glancing back at the sleeping pair on the backseat. 

 

“Yep. That’s why we still got the dog with us,” He smirked at Rhys and got the dog out of the car, and they walked up to the doors, where Abigail soon came to meet them. “Hey, hun, this is the dog I mentioned, remember? She’s real nice, found her draggin’ her leash around on the street and thought that the smartest thing would be to bring her to you.” She smiled at him and took the leash, looking down at the dog.

 

“Ah, she’s very cute. You’re a good girl, aren’t you?” Jack chuckled and nodded at her, kneeling next to the dog to pet it, muttering something about the dog being very good dog. Rhys smiled down at him softly.

 

“You, uh, you really like dogs, huh?” He chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Jack, who just glanced at him and shrugged, a lopsided smile on his face, before continuing to pet the dog.

 

“Oh, hi, Rhys. I didn’t even notice you.” She gave him a small smile, and he greeted her as well. “Anyway, I gotta get back to work. I have patients waiting for me…” She trailed off, laughing softly. She waved to the car, at the child, smiling, before grabbing Jack and giving him a kiss. They said their goodbyes and she returned into the building.

 

“What a woman...whew!” Jack cackled as they were walking back to car. Rhys let out an unsure “Yeah”, causing Jack to halt in his steps. “Yeah, what?”

 

“U-uhm, nothing--”

 

“Nothing my ass! C’mon-- just, just tell me. What’s on your mind?

 

“I-- I swear, nothing--”

 

“Rhys, I’m just fucking with you!” Jack laughed, Rhys just chuckling nervously beside him.

 

“Right…” The two of them climbed back into the car and Jack looked at the child on the backseat, sleeping.

 

“I was gonna take her out for some ice cream after I’d dropped you off, but she seems to be sleeping quite comfortably.” He shrugged as he turned on the engine and watched Rhys strap up. “Well, guess I’ll just drop ya off at your house and then get back to mine and wash my clothes from earlier today,” He winked at Rhys, and so they were off. Jack met Rhys’ roommate at the door and they shook hands and whatnot before Jack left again...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently ao3 is doing the thing again where i have to edit the publishing dates because it keeps glitching out...welp. Third chapter!

Loved ones, especially romantic partners, could easily get suspicious, and possibly even catch on if you weren’t careful enough, and Jack knew this. Of course Jack knew this. That’s why he was always treating his girlfriend like a diamond. It was rather natural at this point, but hadn’t been like that at first, it had been more forced, more… strained. He didn’t want to stay with her in the beginning. But she got pregnant… They had a child together. He couldn’t leave.

 

And that’s why he was still here.

 

Standing in a kitchen, preparing food, a small girl sitting by the table, scribbling on some papers, while his girlfriend was cooking something on the stove. He was deep in thought, missing what his girlfriend said to him, causing him to almost drop the bowl he was holding.

 

“Fu-- fudge…” He sputtered, glancing at the small girl before looking at his lady. “Sorry, what’d you say?” She smiled and took the bowl from him, setting it back onto the table.

 

“I told you about how Lloyd and Andrea broke up.”

 

“Oh? They seemed to be doing so great, what happened?” He brought a hand up to her face, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear with a soft smile. 

 

“She’s better off without him, anyway.” Abigail simply said, shrugging his hand off gently as she moved onto washing the vegetables. “He was cheating on her with his assistant for, what, three or four months?”

 

“Wow, really? I can’t imagine him doing something like that, what an asshole!” Jack was genuinely surprised, he’d shared a few beers with the guy and he really hadn’t seemed that bad. He huffed, crossing his arms. It was kind of amusing though, as he could relate to him in a way-- they were both hiding something from their girlfriends. Something that, if they knew, would hurt them. But Jack was just better at it. And, also, he wasn’t cheating on her. He was just killing people, that’s all. Maybe he’d even tell her someday...

 

“He’s always been a creep, really. I swear he was staring up my skirt at Laura’s barbeque last summer when I was laying on the hammock.” This caused Jack to seize up, and he wasn’t finding this the least bit amusing anymore. He took a protective step towards his girlfriend, without even realizing it.

 

“Really?” She just nodded at him with a small humm. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

 

“And cause a havoc?” She laughed softly, turning her back on her as she returned to the stove to make sure the food wasn’t burning. “Why would I do that? It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway, don’t worry about it.” 

 

The man sighed as he walked behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, pressing a soft kiss on her neck. “Seriously, I still wish you woulda told me.” She turned to face him with a smile. He took advantage of this new position and kissed her, before being pushed away gently by the softly laughing woman in his arms.

 

“Well, I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” She asked before giving him a small poke on his nose, causing him to snort. 

 

“I swear, if we didn’t have a child sitting right there, I’d say you’re the utmost immature person in this house,” He grinned, laughing softly as he shook his head. She laughed as well, wrapping her arms around his neck. 

 

“Get back to chopping those veggies, handsome.”

 

“Right away, m’lady,” He kissed her one last time, before returning to the food. While in the midst of it, he stopped to think. “Are they selling their house?”

 

“Well, it is her house, she kicked him out.”

 

“Oh really? Where’s he staying?”

 

“At the motel near their house. Why?”

 

“No reason…” He muttered, a small smirk on his face as he kept chopping the veggies.

  
  


_ A week later, Lloyd was found dead in the bathroom of a motel. No one really knew what had happened, there wasn’t a trace or proof-- since it was a shitty motel, it didn’t even cameras. In the end, it was ruled as a random homicide.  _

  
  


Later, when the food was cooking, the two of them had gone to the living room. Or, more so, Jack had followed his girlfriend who wanted to show him a new project she was working on. At one point, she spoke up about something else. “Hey, you know Laura, right?”

 

Jack looked up from her work and raised his brows. “Laura? Yeah, she’s a nice girl. What about her?” Abigail reluctantly closed the laptop and placed it onto the table, turning fully to face him.

 

“She’s having a small alcohol free party next saturday and I was wondering if you’d want to come?”

 

“Oh, I’d love to, but I have plans with the young Rhysie on saturday. Don’t wanna disappoint the kid, y’know?” 

 

“You’re always with him… What do you two even do together?”

 

“Well, y’know. We, uh, hang out, and stuff.” She just huffed at that and grabbed the laptop again, continuing to work on her project once more. “So, can I help with this?”

 

“No, you don’t really have the eye for it.” She told him, chuckling softly. He just smirked and hung his head.

 

“Ah, I must return to the cooking, then,” He straightened up, his back cracking slightly as he did so.

 

“Make it yummy.” He smirked at her.

 

“Oh I will-- one more thing though.” His voice was devious as he leaned in closer. His girlfriend furrowed her brows.

 

“What?”

 

“Kiss the cook?”

 

“Come here you absolute handsome devil…!” She said laughing as she grabbed his face and kissed him. He grinned into the kiss, trying not to chuckle. They had to part as they were both trying not to laugh, and just leaned their foreheads together. “Get back to the kitchen, mister.” He smirked at her as he stood up, finger gunned her, and walked into the kitchen, smiling.

  
  


“So you’ve got your Dahmer's, Zodiac killers, Boston strangler’s, Jack the ripper's, what my point is-- Aileen Wuornos was one hell of a serial killer too-- is that they all had a style; they found a way to own it.” Rhys stared at Jack as he just kept talking. He nodded slightly and the man gave him a small smile before continuing. “Ownership of your work is vital, Rhysie. You gotta find your voice-- have you found your voice yet?” They were walking a bit faster now for some reason, and Rhys struggled slightly to keep up 

 

“What-- what does that mean?” He asked, not prepared for Jack to just. Stop. He walked straight into Jack with a grunt. “Hey--”

 

“Y’know, your style. Signature, calling call, whatever.” The older turned around to face him, crossing his arms as he stared at him.

 

“I don’t know.” Rhys stuttered, feeling small under the slightly shorter man's gaze. He swallowed. Jack just hummed and nodded, turning around and starting to walk again.

 

“You’ll know when you do.”

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” The boy agreed, though he was hesitant. He wasn’t really sure about what Jack’s point was anymore, and he didn’t want to say the wrong thing.

 

“You have to make every kill count, because you never know which one’s gonna be your last. I think one thing we should always keep in the back of our minds is that, life as we know it, could just-- disappear, at any minute.” To make a point, Jack snapped his fingers. Rhys repeated the action, looking down at his hand, slightly shocked. 

 

“Huh.”

  
  
  


It was a new day, it was sunny, beautiful… a part of the city in the shadow of the horrendous main building of Hyperion, known as Helios, which towered over everything around it. Some people hated it, some loved it, but that was irrelevant to Rhys as he sat outside of the huge building on one of the seats, waiting for his friend.

 

Speaking of whom, was walking out of the main doors in a white buttoned up shirt and a tie that was slightly crooked. He smiled and got up. “Hey there. Do you, uh, you want turkey or ham?” 

 

“Huh?” The older raised his brows, and Rhys just extended his cybernetic hand, in which he held two unopened and very nicely packed sandwiches. “Oh, uh, turkey.”

 

“It’s the one on top.” He told Jack with a lopsided smile, and the man, hesitatingly, took it.

 

“...Thanks. What do I owe ya?” He asked as the two of them sat down. The younger shook his head and chuckled.

 

“Nothing, it’s on me.” Jack smiled softly st Rhys as he opened the packaging.

 

“Well, thank you. Next time’s on me though.” He winked and bit into his sandwich. Rhys just chuckled and nodded,

 

“Alright,” He agreed and took a bite of his own sandwich. They ate most their food in silence, Rhys looking around the place to avoid making awkward eye contact. Once he was about halfway through, he glanced back at Jack. “It’s nice outside today, huh?”

 

“Beautiful!” Jack exclaimed with food in his mouth, looking up at the sky with a grin. Rhys chuckled. After a moment, he spoke up again.

 

“So, um, how’s your day going?” He asked, looking at Jack as he took another bite. He glanced at Jack’s tie, considering whether he was supposed to tell the man it was crooked, or if he was supposed to straighten it out himself. The older shrugged, bringing Rhys’ attention back to what he’d asked.

 

“Ehh.” 

 

Rhys set down his drink and bread and leaned into Jack’s personal space, having made his mind about the tie as he re-positioned it, before pulling back with a small smile. “There. Do you hate your job?”

 

“Uh… Thanks? And I mean, I hate my boss, but uh, nah,” He shook his head, his eyes raking up the side of the huge building. “I just look at it as something that pays the bills. Puts the food on the table, all that.” He looked back at his friend with a soft look on his face. Rhys couldn’t really read his expression, so he cleared his throat.

 

“Why don’t you kill him? If you hate him,” The boy wondered, causing Jack to let out a laugh.

 

“Rule number nine, Rhysie. Don’t kill people you know personally. That’ll put a lead on ya, and trust me, that’s not something to wish for.”

 

“Ah,” Rhys nodded slowly. He thought about his next question for a while before clearing his throat, “When you were little, what did you think you were gonna be-- or what’d you want to be, when you grew up?” He asked, leaning his elbows on his knees as he kept his gaze on Jack, while also continuing to eat his sandwich. 

 

The other looked away for a moment before shrugging and looking back at Rhys. “What I wanted to be? I wanted to be an astronaut, actually. Always been fascinated by space.” The younger of the two frowned slightly, his eyebrows raised.

 

“Oh, well, what happened to that dream?”

 

“Becoming an astronaut is surprisingly difficult, kiddo.” Jack furrowed his brows and looked at the pavement, biting the inside of his cheek. “Requires a lot of math.” He looked back at Rhys. “Like, a lot of math. Plus, when I was a kid, I didn't even know serial-killing was an option, since it’s not really something they cover in career day.” He chuckled softly, smirking, staring at the boy with a glint in his eyes, and the other seemed to notice this. He laughed awkwardly,

 

“Y-yeah, ah.” 

 

“Besides, all work and no play…” He looked at Rhys, and the boy fluidly finished the sentence, his face lighting up in a blink of an eye.

 

“Makes Jack a dull boy, hah, yeah,” He chuckled, smiling like an idiot. Jack smiled too as he took another bite from his sandwich.

 

“Hey, so, what you doin tonight?” He asked the kid after a few seconds of chewing the bite. Rhys frowned slightly at the fact that he was speaking with his mouth full of food, but didn’t comment on it.

 

“Nothing really, just hanging with Vaughn I guess--” Jack quickly swallowed the last of his bite and grabbed Rhys mechanic wrist, jumping slightly from the surprisingly cold metal. 

 

“Wanna come over to my place at nine? C’mon man, ya see your roommate everyday anyway…” He wasn’t sure why he was even inviting Rhys. He supposed it was because he’d never really had friends who spent time with him, he’d only had the kinda friends you see every now and then and you say hi and all that, but you’re not close. But Rhys… he was like the best friend that Jack never had as a kid. 

 

“Well, yeah, if you think that’s alright. I mean, do you think it’s alright?” Rhys rubbed his neck as he stared down at where Jack was holding his wrist. The man pulled his hand back and tilted his head.

 

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

 

“I just… I get the feeling that Abigail doesn’t really like me that much.” He muttered, looking away in embarrassment, feeling Jack's eyes drilling into the back of his head.

 

“What? No, she thinks you’re great. She just thinks you’re insecure.” Jack stated in a pretty monotone voice, bringing a hand to Rhys’ cheek and turning the boy's face back to his with a serious look, before letting go and pulling back with a smile.

 

After a while, Rhys spoke up again, “...She’s not getting suspicious, is she?”

 

“Of…? Of what, what we’re doing? No, no. Not at all.” The older furrowed his brows, chewing his food as he stared at Rhys in confusion. “Why’d you think that?”

 

“Well, I’ve just always been really paranoid and jumpy so, uh. I like to be two steps ahead, you know?” He laughed awkwardly, averting Jack’s gaze as he admitted this. If he’d been looking at the man, he would’ve seen the face he was making. It wasn’t confused, annoyed or disturbed. It was… It was one of someone who understood. But the face was gone when Rhys looked back. Jack was just staring at the last piece of his sandwich.

 

“Yeah, hey, don’t worry about it, she’s, uh, fun. Listen, I hate to cut this short but I gotta run, I have a lot of calls to make. But I’ll see you,” The older said as he stood up, shoving the last bite into his mouth. Rhys looked up at him, “Nine o’clock. Once again, thanks for the bread, kid. Stay safe.”

 

“Nine o’clock. Right. And ah, yeah, thanks for-- everything.” But Jack had already walked away, leaving Rhys outside the big building, just sitting, confused. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you guys apparently hate commenting but...please?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning! Homophobic slurs and shaming of homeless people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had to cut this one in half because it was sooooo long... This one might be a little shorter than what these usually are? But it was the only point I coukd cut it off without it being...weird. Yeah? Anyway! Hope you like it.

“Thomas is such a fucking prick! Can you believe this guy? What a dildo!” Jack raised a brow at his fellow worker as they walked down the hallway together, Jack heading for his cubicle at the end of it. He chuckled softly, shaking his head.

 

“You’re always complaining about him. Dickhead Thomas, faggot Thomas. It’s always Thomas this, Thomas that.” His friend shot him a glare. He reminded Jack of a small child that had been denied dessert, just with some added swearing.

 

“Your point?” The ‘ _child_ ’ spat.

 

Jack sighed. “My point is, who gives a shit if Thomas is a prick?” He drawled, rolling his eyes at Jefferson. The latter huffed.

 

“I do, you fucking dildo!”

 

“If you hate him so goddamn much, then do something about it.” Jack stated, shrugging. He felt Jefferson’s eyes glaring at the side of his head.

 

“Like what?” Jefferson hissed as he squinted at the older man, a frown on his face.

 

“You could start by slashing his fucking throat…” Jack's voice was quiet, so that the other man barely even heard what he said. But he did hear something, a look of shock spreading onto his face as he halted his steps.

 

“...What?” He muttered and Jack turned to face him with raised eyebrows.

 

“I saaaiiid… you could start by slashing his tires.” When Jefferson just gave him a blank stare in return, he shrugged and crossed his arms. “Black audi, third floor down, parking slot E43.” At that, the other man's face lit up and he gave a devious grin.

 

“You know what?! I’m gonna do that right now! You wanna join me?” Jefferson offered, but Jack just shook his head in amusement.

 

“Nah, I’ve got calls to make. Some other time though.” He told Jefferson with a smirk. The other just nodded and grinned.

 

“Alright. See ya!” He watched as the man ran off, headed for the elevator.

  


_The same day, Thomas was found dead right next to his car, his throat had been slit open. Three of the four tires of his car had been slashed open, and Jefferson was arrested for the murder of Thomas._

  


Rhys was surprised to find himself sat on Jack’s and Abigail’s bed, _with_ Jack. He knew they were gonna hang out but on his bed? He just hoped Abigail wasn’t gonna get the wrong picture from this… Jack was just teaching him how to load a gun, not that she would ever know that, either. He cleared his throat.

 

“Are you listening? Hey? Look at me-” Jack snapped his fingers in Rhys’ face, shooting a small glare at the lankier man. Rhys sputtered and concentrated his gaze back on Jack. On a very annoyed looking Jack...

 

“S-sorry, I uh, what… What did you say?”

 

“You slap it with your palm. Release. Angle, slap, release.” Jack spoke, doing each action with the gun as he spoke. Rhys watched closely as he angled the... _thing_ , into the _gun_ \-- the part that he was holding-- ack, now he was confused again. “Now you give it a try.”

 

“Uh- alright.” He swallowed nervously and took the gun from Jack. He somehow successfully mirrored what he’d watched Jack do, loading the gun.

 

“Good. Now, release the magazine.” Rhys pressed the button with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun, which did release and drop the part, but Jack made a disapproving noise as he shoved it back in. “Do it-- do it with the thumb, the one you're holding it with. The same thumb,” Jack motioned around with his hands and Rhys hesitated.

 

“Oh-” He started but Jack was talking again.

 

“Yeah, cus ya need the other hand when you reload it,” Rhys nodded at Jack and smiled.

 

Jack really spoke a lot. “Got it,”

 

“So you can reload quick.” Like, _a lot_.

 

Rhys held back a sigh and cleared his throat. “Oh,” He repeated the action, this time loading it properly and releasing it quick, before loading it again. “So cool…” Jack grinned at him.

 

“Exactly.” The older chuckled, collecting a few bullets off the bed as he shoved them into another reloading thingy. Mag… Magazine? He wasn’t sure. Rhys really needed to ask him what the parts were called at some point…

 

Silence fell between them as Rhys loaded the gun a few more times and Jack toyed with the bullets, shoving them into the empty magazine in his hands. The younger cleared his throat and glanced at the door before leaning towards Jack, the older giving him a confused look before leaning in as well.

 

“Does… Does Abigail know about this?” He asked, brows furrowed.

 

Jack hesitated. “About, what, the gun?”

 

“No, I mean… Everything.” He leaned closed, speaking in a hushed voice. “The killing…”

 

“No.” The older pulled away and returned his attention back to the bullets he was playing with earlier. Rhys was almost laying down at this point. He cleared his throat and sat up, scooting just a little bit closer to Jack.

 

“Do you think she’d understand?” Rhys watched as Jack clenched and unclenched his jaw, clearly unsure what to say, what to _do_ , even. His hands stilled and he looked up at Rhys, who was loading his own mag as well at this point. He was doing it slower than Jack… Jack brought his gaze up to his face with a… Look on his face that Rhys just could not read. The younger swallowed anxiously.

 

“I don't know. I’d hope she would, but… Well, I can tell you she’d say you’ve become a lot better of a person since you started.” He chuckled dryly before continuing, looking back down at the mag in his hands. “And, well, me too. I used to be the same as the people I kill. But now I’m actually beneficial to the world. Unlike them.” Something dark washed over his face for a moment, before it was gone again and he was leaning in to help Rhys with his bullets. “Alright, so you press down with your thumb, before you load the bullet. Makes it a lot easier.”

 

“What happens if she finds out?” Rhys asked after a small while of Jack watching him load the bullets.

 

“She can’t find out, Rhys, that’s not an option.” Jack grabbed his arm, making him look him in the eye and stop loading the magazine, and tugged the younger closer to himself. “If she calls the police, they found out about what I’ve done… You know it’s not a life sentence I’ll get. It’s-- I'll be executed.” His voice was low, hushed. Rhys felt his throat going dry. But the moment was gone as quickly as it started and there was space between them again, Jack looking more calm now. “You know you have to be smart enough to keep it from her.”

 

Rhys frowned. “No, that’s not what I’m saying, I just… what if?”

 

“You can’t be a doubting Thomas if you want to be a serial killer.” Jack muttered as he stood up, stretching slightly, letting Rhys see every inch of him in those clothes. They weren’t even very tight, but the way he stretched caused his shirt to hug him just right, and Rhys had to look away with a nervous cough.

 

“I’m not… A doubting Thomas.” He muttered. He felt something hit his head, he looked down on the bed. A bullet. He looked up just in time to see Jack tossing bullets at him like a child.

 

The man grinned. “Don’t let negative thoughts into your head.” Rhys frowned just slightly as the bullets kept hitting his chest, and Jack just laughed, about to open his mouth when there was a knock on the door.

 

“Hey? Guys, you in there?” Abigail, ofcourse. Jack tossed the rest of the bullets over to Rhys, who then quickly pulled the gun and bullets under a pillow and laid down over them to hide them further. He looked up at Jack.

 

The man opened the door slowly. “Yeah, hey…” He smiled at his girlfriend. She smiled back, before looking at Rhys.

 

“I was just wondering if either of you wanted a drink or something?” Jack shrugged at her, and she looked back at him.

 

“Nah, I’m good. Rhys?” He glanced back at the younger boy as he laid down next to him.

 

Rhys did want a drink. “I’m good.” Abigail smiled at them both.

 

“Okay, just shout if you do… At any point. I’m gonna go watch TV.” She started moving away, but Jack flew her a kiss and she stopped to chuckle at him.

 

“Alright, thanks baby. Thank you,” She muttered something in return before leaving the room, leaving the door open. The two men sighed and leaned back on the bed, heads bumping together slightly.

 

Rhys turned his head to face Jack. “I’m not a doubting Thomas.” He frowned. Jack huffed.

 

“I know you’re not a doubting Thomas.” He hissed back at the boy, who just looked away awkwardly. He sighed, standing up as he walked over to the door.

 

“Truth is, I don’t know what she’d do if she found out.” He pushed the door closed, locking it. Rhys regretted ever asking.

 

“Jack, I uh… I’m sorry.”

 

“Why?” He raised a brow as he plopped back onto the bed, pulling out the magazine he’d been playing with earlier and flicked another bullet at Rhys.

 

“Stop it… I’m sorry for asking.” He muttered, trying to block the bullets. Jack just chuckled and shuffled closer to him.

 

“It’s fine. We had a good chat about it, you’re smarter now.” He brought a gentle hand to the side of Rhys’ face. The younger looked up into his eyes and cleared his throat, a small smile appearing onto his face. Jack grinned and smacked his cheek gently. “Good boy.”

  
  


“Ten million people in this town, you’d think it’s easier to find someone to kill.” Jack’s eyes scanned the surrounding area as he drove forwards, not even noticing all the heads his car turned. Rhys did, and it made him a bit… Uneasy. He tugged at his sweater and looked down at his lap.

 

“Maybe we should just… Call it a day?” The boy muttered, glancing at Jack, immediately regretting what he’d said as he saw the look on Jack’s face.

 

“Call it a day? Wh- what are you, a fucking quitter, Rhys?” The man sounded so disappointed, he looked as if he was just betrayed or something. Rhys sputtered.

 

“No, I’m not, I’m not a quitter, I was just thinking--” He wanted to take back what he said, God, he was such an idiot. He stared at Jack with a worried expression. _Please don’t get any angrier, please let’s just forget about it_.

 

Jack snorted, glaring at the road in front of them. “Yeah, well, not thinking like a serial killer, that’s for sure. Serial killer keep on keeping on, ya get that?” He shot Rhys a look and the boy just nodded vigorously.

 

“Y-yeah, I--”

 

“I believe in you, Rhys. I know you can do it, you’ve got what it takes to be like me, but ya gotta believe in it too. Otherwise this?” Jack motioned to the space between them. “Not gonna work.”

 

“I understand-” Jack wasn’t giving Rhys any room to take back what he’d said. Rhys just wanted to curl up into his bed and eat icecream with Vaughn by now, at least his bro wouldn’t be so angry with him. But if he really wanted to do this with Jack… he frowned.

 

“You gotta want it enough to go out there and get it.”

 

“I do want it! Just-- keep on keeping on-” Rhys repeated Jack’s words from earlier, giving him a small reassuring but extremely anxious smile. Jack sneered.

 

“You say that! But do you _really_ mean it? Because all I’m getting is a lot of words but no action. All swagger, no mass, Rhysie, that won't work.” At any other point, Rhys would’ve questioned Jack over his choice of words, but right now wasn’t the time. Jack kept going. “Remember what I asked you the first time? Do you have it in it, to win it? You said you do, but I’m really not seeing it right now.”

 

Now, Rhys looked down. He swallowed, feeling Jacks eyes on him. He forced himself to look back up into his eyes. “I was just saying…” He trailed off. Jack shook his head, disappointed.

 

“Just fucking shut up.” Jack spat.

 

“Aight.” Silence fell between them for the rest of the car ride.

 

Rhys was leaning against the window of the car, listening to the seagulls cries and screeches, when the car suddenly came to a halted stop, and Jack parked them near a park. The man got out of the car, and Rhys quickly got out as well. Jack looked at him and sneered.

 

“Nope,” He shook his head. “No, no, no. You stay in the car.” The older ordered, motioning to said car and then Rhys, clearly upset.

 

“Wha- why?” The older rolled his eyes and slammed his car door shut.

 

“You know why, Rhys. I want you to sit there and think about your little attempt to quit earlier.” He snarled as he walked past Rhys and stopped to stare towards the sea. Rhys quickly closed his own door and followed after him.

 

“No- I- Jack I’m sorry!” He whined, the older turning around to face him with his arms crossed.

 

“Sorry’s a word, Rhysie.”

 

Rhys shook his head. “No, I mean it.” He did.

 

Jack stepped forwards, causing Rhys to flinch slightly. “Show me you mean it, through _action_.”

 

“How?” He tried to hold on to the little bit of composure he still had left in him. Jack was silent, eyes raking over the beach and park, landing on a couple sitting on a bench. A grin spread on his face as he returned his attention to Rhys again, grabbing his face.

 

“Why don’t you find us a good victim today, eh, Rhys?” He murmured with a low voice. Rhys felt uneasy from how close they were, but nodded, feeling their noses brush against each others as he did so. Jack smiled, humming as he wrapped his arm around Rhys and pulled him towards the park. He suddenly shoved Rhys forwards, almost sending him face first into the dirt and grass.

 

“H-hey!”

 

“Go on!” Jack grinned at him, watching as he straightened his clothes with a huff. “Take your time. Remember, it has to come from in here,” He placed a hand next to his crotch, framing it in a way, a soft smile on his lips. Rhys sputtered, eyes going wide as he looked away.

 

“Jack!” He hissed, shooting an angry glare at Jack’s stupid face. The man doubled over from laughter.

 

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” He laughed, wiping a faux tear from his eye as he stood up. “It comes from the gut. You gotta trust your gut.” He chuckled, bringing a hand to his stomach this time.

 

Rhys just huffed, crossing his arms. “W-well right now my gut-” He cut himself off and looked away, flustered. Jack raised a brow though, smirking.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“N-nothing.” Rhys muttered, shaking his head. He felt Jacks hand on his shoulder, and soon felt his warm breath right below his ear. He clenched his jaw, sucking in a sharp breath.

 

“Who is your gut telling you to kill, Rhysie?” The older man murmured, there was something… Ominous, about the way he spoke.

 

“Noone…” He trailed off, ignoring the way he felt Jack’s chest press lightly against his back. This man had no idea what personal space is, he was a stranger to the concept. Rhys flinched when Jack suddenly spun around him and was _right in his face_.

 

“Is it me?” Rhys would have averted his gaze but there was nowhere else to look but Jack. He tried to step away but Jack had a hold on him. He opened his mouth, but no words came out, only a squeak. He felt his face go red and he just looked at his feet, missing the way that Jack was holding back his laugh. “I beli-” Jack’s voice broke slightly and he cleared his throat, “I believe I asked you a question. Do you want to kill me, cupcake?”

 

“No-- well, not kill! I, uh. Just, nevermind. I…” Rhys sputtered, feeling his face go even more red than it already was. Jack suddenly burst out into laughter, causing Rhys to look up at him in confusion. “Wha--”

 

“I’m fucking with you, Rhys! God you’re an idiot.” Jack cackled as he pulled away from Rhys, grinning at him. “You shoulda seen your face…!” He laughed. Rhys just looked confused and slightly offended. Jack waved his hand. “Anyway, back to it. Hunt, my boy!

 

 _Hunt_.”

  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll reply to comments soon! I promise. My ao3 is just acting up a bit so its not letting me write replies rn but as soon as it gets fixed, i'll start replying!
> 
> Oh and do you like that ending? Thats why i cut the chapter off there, i felt like that would be a pretty good way to end the fourth chapter. What do you think?
> 
> And also do you prefer these chapters that might vary in lenght a bit but are a pretty normal lenght otherwise, or would you actually prefer really long chapters? Because I think I could ofcourse make them longer, there would be more detailed descriptions and longer paragraphs, but only if you guys want that! Personally I'm very content with what we got right now, but I'm not the reader here am I now ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll reply to comments tonight, whilst i contemplate if i should keep writing this since the only time i got comments was when i begged for it, and even then only two. Clearly not that many people enjoy this...

The two men had been walking for a while now and Rhys was feeling a little uncomfortable, because the longer he stalled and didn’t give Jack a victim, the more annoyed the man was getting. So Rhys cleared his throat and nodded towards some guy in the distance. “What about that guy?” He asked, shooting a nervous glance into Jack’s direction.

 

“I don't know, you tell me!” The older stated, giving him a small push. After a moment, Jack nodded towards a homeless person who was wandering near a trash can. “Him, is he a good victim?”

 

“Umm…” Rhys looked between the man and Jack, uncertain of what to say.

 

“‘ _ Umm _ ’,” The other mocked him, shoving him playfully. Rhys pouted, furrowing his brows as he thought about it. “Yes or no?”

 

“Y-yes. Yeah,” He quickly said, hoping that it would satisfy Jack enough for the man to just get on with it. He rubbed his arm on where Jack had pushed and shoved him from. The man stared at him, amused. “He’s a good victim.”

 

“Why?” But, of course, Rhys was wrong. He hesitated, watching what the homeless man was doing, noticing that he threw some of the trash he didn’t find useful onto the ground instead of back into the bin.

 

“Well, he just… Littered.” He said, voice cracking slightly at the end. He cleared his throat and gave Jack a glance, only to find that the man was only staring over in the direction of the homeless person. 

 

“So…” He hummed, squinting at the trash. “You a litter cop, are ya?” He asked, finally looking back at Rhys, smirking at him.

 

“N-no… Uhm.” Rhys looked back at the man, returning to inspect his doings. Jack did so as well. He hesitated. “Well, it’s pretty obvious he’s not working, so he’s like a drain on taxpayers…?” Jack nodded slowly.

 

“So you’re sayin’ you pay a lotta taxes now?” He looked at Rhys again, unimpressed.

 

“No…” He trailed off, shaking his head. Jack looked away once more.

 

“Yeah, neither do I.” 

 

Rhys clenched his jaw, swallowing nervously as he watched the homeless man walk over into the shade and lay down to sleep against one of the big trees in the park. He huffed. He could do better than that. He was determined. He didn’t even notice when Jack turned to face him, nor Jack’s undivided attention, the man noticing the sudden change in posture, and the look on Rhys’ face. 

 

“Well, they’re lazy and they’re disgusting and-- and they smell bad, they have bad hair… And when you’re sitting at a restaurant, they’ll just come up to you like-” Rhys made a face, causing Jack to raise his brows in amusement. “-and then if you’re in your car it’s the worst because if you- if you stop at the lights and then they just…  _ Stare _ at you like!  _ Please _ , do not, makes me  _ uncomfortable _ .” Rhys looked over at Jack, finding that the older man was staring at him with a wide smile, maybe… Impressed? Amused? 

 

He couldn’t tell.

 

“People stare at my car all the time,”

 

“I know! I hate it.” Rhys rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he looked off into the distance. ”But that’s different, cus-- when they do it, it’s like, they’re admiring your car, but when people like him do it I just--” Rhys motioned around, arms flailing. Jack’s grin just widened. 

 

“I- I feel bad like I’m guilty but it’s not my fucking fault that  _ I’m _ making money and  _ they’re not _ , all they do is fucking lay around and hang out on the beach all day while- while  _ I’m _ at my  _ job _ ,  _ earning _ my money!” Rhys was putting all of his pent up frustration into this, that was for sure. Even Jack could see it. “ _ Like _ you could be doing  _ anything _ at all,  _ but _ that, become a- a  _ cleaner _ or something, at least then you’d get  _ money for hanging out at the beach all day _ !” He finished with a sigh, glaring at the napping homeless man at this point. “Just fucking disgusting.”

 

Jack grabbed him by the shoulder gently, his grin turning into a soft smile. He turned Rhys around to face him, a hand on both of his shoulders now. “The man right there, Rhysie, he’s not a victim for us, he’s a victim of society.” His voice was oddly soft, so out of character for him… Rhys furrowed his brows, paying close attention to what he was saying. “We need to show the less fortunate  _ compassion _ .” He smiled at the boy, glancing over at the homeless man. Rhys frowned and looked down at his feet. 

 

“I’m sorry, I-” 

 

Jack cut him off, “No, not sorry, remember? Action, not words.” 

 

“You… I? Uh…” Rhys glanced between Jack and the homeless man a few times before getting what the man was saying. “Oh.” 

 

He pulled out his wallet and grabbed a few cents, only for Jack to let go of him and step away, spinning around so Rhys was getting a view of his back, he had his arms spread out as he announced, “Fifty cents, holy shit!” He turned back to Rhys, a sarcastic ‘pretending to be shocked’ expression on his face. “You’re gonna go broke if you keep spending that kinda money!” Rhys flinched and pulled out a twenty, looking at Jack with a pout. The man nodded. “Yeahh, that’s what I’m talking about…” The boy walked over and put the twenty into the sleeping man's pocket before hurrying back to Jack.

  
  
  


“Eleven hours, Rhysie.” The boy shot him a confused look. “We’ve been here for eleven hours.” Jack said softly, watching the beautiful sunset with the boy. They were leaning against a fence, shoulder against shoulder. Rhys hummed.

 

“Really?” He let out a soft laugh. Jack smiled, turning his head slightly to look at the boy. He furrowed his brows, the smile dropping slightly. He’d never had a friend like Rhys before. He parted his lips to say something, but decided to keep it to himself and just let his tongue dart out to wet his drying lips. Rhys was too concentrated on the moon to notice the way Jack stared at him. 

 

The man cleared his throat as he pushed himself off of the fence. Rhys snapped out of his daydream and looked at him, slowly straightening up as well. “Here’s a little pearl for ya,” Jack started, glancing at Rhys as he stretched his arms. “Whenever it gets hard, that’s when ya know you’re on the right path.” He smiled at the other man. Rhys just nodded dumbly.

 

“Whatever it takes to uhh, get it done.” The boy muttered as a response as they started walking away together. Jack chuckled.

 

“ _ Whatever it takes _ ,” he agreed.

  
  
  


Jack was staring at his car mirror, frowning slightly.“Y’know what I fucking hate?” He asked, pressing down on the gas pedal, going slightly faster. Rhys hummed and looked over at him. “Tailgaters,” He nodded towards the car behind them, the younger turning in his seat to glance at it. “This friggin’ asshole.”

 

“He’s really riding your ass.” Rhys chuckled. He didn’t know Jack had road rage, but he wasn’t surprised, either. Jack just groaned, glaring at the mirror. Rhys would have been worried if the street they were driving down wasn’t empty. Luckily it was.

 

“Could he be any fucking closer to my car?” Jack snarled, constantly turning in his seat, sometimes staring out of the window at the road, sometimes staring at the mirror between Rhys and himself or the mirror in his door, and even turning around in the seat every five fucking seconds. “You’re in my fucking ass!” He yelled, making Rhys laugh.

 

The boy turned around in his seat to stare at the other car. “Guy’s pretty big. I mean it’s not like I’m--”

 

“Shh, shh, watch this-- just- just watch,” Jack shushed him, cutting him off as he slowed his lambo down. “Theere ya go,” He laughed, the car behind them honking at them, making Jack laugh even more. “Oh, oh is that slowing you down? Is that fucking slowing you down?” He cackled. “Hah, high- high beams? Fuck you!” He yelled, amused. “Hold the fucking wheel.” He snapped at Rhys as he opened his window and stuck himself out, flipping the guy off. “FUCK YOU!” He yelled loudly before climbing back in, taking the wheel from Rhys as they both laughed. Rhys had a big grin on his face, and Jack couldn’t help the warm feeling spreading in his chest at that.

 

“Y’know what’s fucking awesome? This asshole has no idea what he’s getting himself into.” He laughed, getting Rhys’ attention again as he grinned devilishly at the mirror. “You never know about people, you just never know who’s gonna have a gun in their glove compartment!” He laughed, looking away from the mirror at Rhys, who let out a soft chuckle. Jack grinned and looked into the mirror again.

 

“Do-- do you have a gun in your glove compartment?” The boy suddenly asked, looking slightly confused, but intrigued. Jack’s smile faded and he glanced at the boy.

 

“No.” He muttered, shaking his head as he reached into Rhys’ personal space. “Rhys what kind of serial killer would I be if I didn’t have a gun in my glove compartment?” He asked as he  _ pulled out a gun from the glove compartment _ .

 

Rhys hesitated, furrowing his brows. “Umm-”

 

“Oh this is good, this is really fucking good.” Jack muttered, the look on his face warping into a dark smile. Rhys looked at him cautiously. “Thank you baby Jesus!” He laughed, making a kissing noise at the sky. He looked over at the other driver and then at a few empty parking slots on the side of the street not too far away. “Alright, let’s--” He cut himself off as he looked back at the driver and laughed, “That’s it. Right over here bitch, right the fuck over here bitch!” He yelled, grinning. Rhys looked back at him as well

 

“I think he just called you a faggot, he’s- he’s mouthing the word faggot at you!” He laughed, looking at Jack in amusement. The older man just huffed and slowed down his car, the one behind them doing the same.

 

“Here we go...” He muttered as he parked his car, opening his door as soon as the other car stopped. “Let’s do this!” He chuckled at Rhys as he stepped outside. Rhys followed him with his gaze.

 

A gunshot ran through the neighbourhood. And then another. Jack was laughing outside like a maniac as he jogged back to the car.

 

“Did you fucking see that!? Ahahah! Ah man!” He laughed as they drove away. Rhys hoped there were no cameras or witnesses nearby.

  
  


As Jack stepped out of his car, he stretched his arms and let inhaled sharply. “Mmmh!” He basically moaned as he turned to look at Rhys, happier than he had been in a long time. “That- that was a great day today, Rhys.” He said with a grin, the younger boy nodding at him. Jack chuckled as he looked around the place. He hadn’t really been here more than once before, and didn’t really pay attention to it so closely back then. He huffed, turning to face his friend.

 

“Oh yeah, yeah.” Rhys agreed, a lopsided smile in his lips. 

 

“Alright, well, see ya tomorrow,” Jack said and Rhys nodded, but before the boy could turn away, Jack made a move to punch him, causing him to flinch. He wasn’t actually going to hit him… Just pretend to hit him. “Lighten up, Rhysie. Ya gotta learn to trust me.” 

 

“Oh I do,” Rhys told Jack, rubbing his arm as he stepped closer to Jack again. Jack’s smile dropped and he just stared at him with a blank expression.

 

“Doesn’t seem like you do sometimes.”

 

“Yeah, but I do.” He said, and he wasn’t lying either. Jack pretended to hit him again, and Rhys still flinched, sniffling as he stepped closer again, looking down at their feet a little embarrassed.

 

“See?” Jack huffed. “I trust you.” He smiled softly. Rhys nodded 

 

“Oh, I know. I know…” He trailed off, looking back up at Jack again.

 

“I mean, I have to, right? Ya could get me in a lotta trouble.” The man let out a dry chuckle, shrugging as he moved closer, his eyes locked into Rhys’. The boy swallowed.

 

“Oh I wouldn't do that.”

 

“No but you could, though.” He stated, and Rhys furrowed his brows.

 

“I wouldn’t though.” Jack chuckled and rolled his eyes.

 

“I know you wouldn’t, but…” He moved a little closer again, tilting his head, a small smile on his lips. “You could. Just saying.”

 

After a moment of hesitation, Rhys let out a laugh and shrugged, averting his gaze. “Yeahh,” He wheezed, and Jack chuckled.

 

“Yeah?” The older hummed, grinning at Rhys.

 

“Yeah, probably could get you in… In some trouble.” He muttered, meeting Jack’s gaze again. The man smiled at him and Rhys felt the tension between them growing.

 

The look on Jack’s face was… It wasn’t just gentle, there was something dark behind his eyes. Rhys swallowed as the man came closer once more. “I’d get to you though, before they got to me.” His voice was deep, his gaze piercing. Rhys could feel his warm breath against his face. “You know that, don’t you?” 

 

“You don’t even have to say that.” Rhys muttered, his own voice soft and quiet. “I- I don’t even know what you’re saying man.” He furrowed his brows and swallowed when Jack’s hands cupped his face and a grin spread across the man's face. 

 

“I’m fucking with you!” Jack laughed softly, and Rhys just let out an awkward laugh, not sure where to look when the man was this close to his face. “Rhys, I would not do anything to hurt you, ever!” The older said, voice going soft as he stroked the side of Rhys’ face with one hand. He smiled gently. “You’re my protege, you’re like my offspring.” His hand stopped moving, tangled into the other man’s hair. Rhys’ eyes flickered to his lips briefly before he looked back up. They stood like that for a while, in complete silence. Rhys’ breathing hitched when Jack’s smile fell and he parted his lips. Rhys was certain Jack was going to kiss him- but then he was leaning away, letting go of Rhys’ face as he cleared his throat. “You pleased with what you’re learning so far?”

 

Rhys regained his composure and nodded. “Absolutely, yeah.”

 

“Good,” Jack hummed. “This is a really unique opportunity.”

 

“Oh, I know. I know.”

 

“Alright, well. See ya tomorrow, okay?” Jack smiled at Rhys, and before the boy even got a chance to say anything, he pretended to punch him for the last time, this time Rhys stood still, eyes just slightly widening. 

  
“Didn’t flinch. Didn’t flinch…” Rhys trailed off, chuckling. Jack shook his head in amusement as he patted Rhys’ chest before getting into his car. But to Rhys’ surprise, he didn’t start the car. He didn’t question it though, since it was Jack after all, and just walked over to his front door...


	6. Chapter 6

The car door flew open, “Wait, Rhys–”

 

Rhys turned around, keys in his cybernetic hand. “Yes Ja- ah?” He flinched slightly, the other man suddenly right in front of him, causing him to squeeze down on the keychain in his hand, hearing a small crack coming from it, making him quickly move the keys into his real hand. He swallowed, feeling Jack’s fingers wrap around his wrist as he guided his hand back to the door, leaning closer to him as he did so.

 

“Is your roommate home…?” Jack’s voice sounded strained, his face mere inches away from Rhys’ face, eyes unfocused. Rhys wondered what he was thinking, before blinking a few times, his brain finally catching on and he realized Jack asked him a question. Vaughn would normally be home, but Rhys knew he had been getting more shifts at the store…

 

“I… I don’t know,” His voice faded towards the end, gaze flickering down to Jack’s lips when the man licked his lips. Rhys swallowed, looking back into the pair of heterochromic eyes.

 

Jack’s other hand came to rest at his side, the fabric bunching slightly under his grip as he unlocked his door, sliding it open so that the two stumbled inside. “Jack… What are you…?” He trailed off, uncertain. He didn’t know what the hell Jack was up to, the man was straight as far as Rhys knew. Hell, he even had a girlfriend- and a daughter! 

 

Rhys snapped out of his thoughts when the door was pulled shut and Jack spun them around, pushing Rhys against the wood. “You-- you’re like a son to me, Rhys,” He muttered, one hand next to Rhys’ face, blunt nails scratching the surface of the door. Rhys wondered if that left any marks.

 

“Yeah, you told me…” The younger whispered, trying not to look into Jack’s eyes. The man let out a dry laugh. 

 

“You’re… My bestest friend in the world.” He swallowed harshly, lips brushing lightly against Rhys’. The boy fidgeted underneath him. The slight touch sent electricity shooting through his body, the boy flinching hard. Jack let out a sound, something between a huff and a laugh.

 

“Why… Why are you telling me this?” Rhys finally asked, sounding out of breath as he pushed against the door, hands pressed against himself, straight on his sides. Jack’s grip at his wrist lightened, his fingers still wrapped around it as he slid it up Rhys’ arm, stopping at his bicep. Some of the fabric of the shirt bunched up, but most of it fell back down the higher up he went.

 

He squeezed Rhys’ arm. Closing his eyes, he bumped his forehead against Rhys’. 

 

“Because… I want…” He trailed off, swallowing harshly. Rhys could tell this was hard for him.

 

“...Yeah?” It was merely a whisper, but Jack heard it. He clenched his jaw.

 

“You.”

 

The softness in his voice was gone and he pulled away. Rhys lifted a hand, weakly reaching for him, but the moment was already long gone by then and his hand was left in mid air, awkwardly between the two of them. He slowly let it fall back down.

 

“Jack…” 

 

“I- I know I shouldn’t and I know I have a- a fucking girlfriend, hell, she wants to get married to me!” He shook his head, a dry laugh forcing its way out. “But I can’t stop thinking about you.” Jack paced back and forth, running a hand through his hair. He looked conflicted. Hurt, possibly. Rhys… Rhys couldn't say for sure.

 

“It’s… I…” He didn’t know what to say. So he kept his mouth shut. Like an idiot. He wanted to help Jack. He wanted to grab him and just convince him that everything was going to be fine… but he just couldn't. 

 

Jack stopped pacing and turned to look at him, an intense look in his eyes. Swallowing, Rhys stayed put, pressing slightly harder against the door, causing it to let out a small creek. Jack squinted.

 

“Today, at the beach… Do you know how beautiful you fucking are when the setting sun hits your face like that?” He chuckled, shaking his head when Rhys opened his mouth to speak, silencing him with a wave of his hand. “No, you don’t. And it’s just-- it’s not fair, Rhys. I… In the car, when that one dick was driving behind us… I couldn't help but notice how much fun you were having and that, it, I-- I felt something. It was weird. I don't… I don’t even know how to describe it. I’ve never felt anything like this towards another man...” He stepped closer to Rhys again, his hand softly coming up to hold his chin, keeping his head still. 

 

The constant and intense eye contact was starting to make him uncomfortable. 

 

“Jack-” 

 

“And then when-- you looked at my lips?” Jack nodded towards the door, “Out there... I had to hold myself back. I don't… I love my daughter, Rhys. I don't want to lose her.” He let out a dry laugh again, this one more strained than the last. He swallowed and closed his eyes. Rhys clenched his jaw, bringing a hand up to Jack’s face, his thumb softly stroking his cheek.

 

“...You won’t lose her, Jack. You’re her father,” He said softly, “She loves you.” He tried to give him a gentle smile, but ended up just looking like he  _ pitied _ Jack. The man inhaled sharply and swallowed, contemplating his next move, but then Rhys was talking again. “And-- and Abigail, she… Well. You love her, right? So you should choose her. I’m… nothing more than just your friend, and she’s your  _ girlfriend _ .” He looked down. “So… I get it, y’know?”

 

“Fucking hell--” Jack grunted, more than done with Rhys’ bullshit. His words caused Rhys to look and then, suddenly, there was hot pressure against Rhys’ mouth.

 

It took a moment for him to realize that Jack was kissing him. Jack, kissing.  _ Him _ . His eyes went wide as he froze, looking all over Jack’s face- he was so close- so warm- so-

 

His eyes fluttered shut as he sighed into the kiss, lips parting, giving Jack even more access as he wrapped an arm around Jack’s neck, finally kissing him back. Jack’s lips were dry and chapped compared to Rhys’ soft ones, but he didn't mind it one bit. Jack hoisted him off of the ground and shoved at his leg. Rhys got the hint and wrapped his long legs around Jack’s waist. He pulled away for a second to catch a breath, while Jack kissed and bit at his jaw, muttering something to himself. His cybernetic fingers came up to tangle themselves in Jack’s hair, and he gave him a tug, causing Jack to grunt and look up at him with parted lips and a flushed face. 

 

Rhys’ heart fluttered at the sight. He pulled the man into another kiss, feeling a calloused hand making its way under his shirt. He moaned into the kiss, trying to pull Jack even closer somehow, if that was even possible. 

 

The lights in the room suddenly turned on and startled the two, Jack pulling away from Rhys, letting one of his legs down as he looked behind himself in dazed confusion. As soon as Rhys saw the third man in the room, he quickly shoved Jack off of himself and tugged his shirt back down, trying to make himself look less like he just had the best makeout session of his life, and more like- well, anything else, really.

 

“Uh… Rhys? Who is…?” The short man stuttered, looking at the two men in confusion and maybe even a little disgust.

 

“V-Vaughn! Um- this… This is Jack… I believe you met when he uh, rudely got my number from you.” Rhys quickly explained, stumbling over his words slightly, his voice cracking slightly. Jack looked at Rhys and then back at the short man, furrowing his brows. He cleared his throat.

 

“Right. Shortie. Hi.” He muttered, crossing his arms, stepping further away from Rhys, feeling the jackets that were hung up on the wall brushing against his back. Coming here had definitely been a mistake. He ground his teeth together and averted his gaze, looking around the room instead.

 

“You’re-- wha-- I--” Vaughn sputtered, and Rhys looked down in embarrassment. Jack laughed dryly as he turned to the door, pushing Rhys out of his way as he opened it. The boy let out a small noise of protest, looking at Jack with a sour expression. It stung at Jacks chest, and he hated it. 

 

“Yep, so uhh, actually I gotta go… My daughter’s waiting for me, I promised Abigail I’d um, I’d put her to sleep tonight--” He stepped outside, pulling his car keys out from his pocket with a strained chuckle. “I might be too late but, hey, uh, no need making my two main girls anymore upset than they already are, right? Hah, anyway. See ya!” He winked at the two before slamming Rhys’ door shut. He flinched slightly, left staring at the wood of the door. He brought his fingers up to where Jacks nails had left a mark, tracing each one with a soft touch.

 

Not long after, Rhys heard his car drive off.

 

Fast.

 

That would leave a mark in the gravel, definitely...

 

He blinked, hand falling back to his side, his head hitting the door in defeat. He sighed.

 

“He has… A daughter?” Vaughn asked, confused. Rhys nodded, feeling a little out of it.

 

“And a girlfriend, possibly future wife.” He spoke, like in a daze.

 

“Wow.” Vaughn turned to return to the living room, “What a dick,” He muttered to himself.

 

“Yeah,” Rhys agreed. “You could say that.”

  
  
  
  
  


Jack was laid on the couch, head in Abigail's lap, deep in thought when he suddenly heard Abigail laugh at whatever they were watching. He let out a dry chuckle, fingers playing with the hem of her dress. “Yeah, that’s- that’s funny.” He muttered, having no clue to as what had just happened. He couldn't concentrate on it. Not when all he could think of was what happened a few days prior. He clenched his jaw.

 

“You don’t have to pretend to like it, sweetie.” Abigail said softly, fingers crading through Jack’s hair. He nodded, looking up at her with an apologetic look on his face.

 

“I’m just not really into television humour,” He shrugged as he slowly pushed himself up, careful not to wake the small child sleeping on the couch next to them. Abigail shot him a confused look.

 

“Where are you going?” She asked as he got entirely off of her lap. He just smiled at her softly, but she could see that he wasn’t fully involved in the situation. Something was bothering him, but… She didn’t know what, she wasn’t even sure if she really wanted to know. 

 

“To grab my jacket.” He stated, as if it was obvious.

 

She frowned slightly, shoulders slumping. “I thought we were hanging out today.” She already knew why he was leaving. The hurt was obvious in her voice, but Jack seemed totally oblivious.

 

“Well, Rhysie’s been kinda down so I’m gonna take him out for a few beers to cheer him up, so.” Jack glanced over at their daughter and smiled softly before standing up. “Or, technically he’s picking me up, which sucks, cuz his car is horrible, mine’s like a thousand friggin’ times better. But hey, I’ll live.” He laughed softly, shooting her a grin.

 

“Oh.” Rhys. It was always Rhys. She wondered what the two of them even did together- like really, how can some random kid be more important to him than his family? 

 

His smile fell as he brought a hand to her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb gently. Her gaze fell down and she pulled away from the touch. It wasn’t that she wanted him to not have any close friends, she just hoped he wouldn’t prefer them over her.

 

She watched as he walked down the hallway and into bedroom.

 

Jack quickly dug through the closet and pulled out the small metal box in it along with his nicest jacket, unlocking the box quickly as he pulled out his gun and one of the fully loaded magazines, shoving them into the inner pocket of his jacket. He quickly shut the box, putting it back to its place and threw the jacket over his shoulder, closing the closet. He left the room without noticing the key on the bed.

 

As he walked out, he walked right into Abigail, and smiled at her softly. “Well hello there,” He murmured, bringing a hand to one of the two thin strings holding up her dress and tugged at it, letting it slide down her petite shoulder. She rolled her shoulder, weakly trying to prevent it from falling.

 

“What were you doing there?”

 

“Nothing. Just had to dig a little to find this jacket.” He shrugged the shoulder he had the jacket on and smirked.

 

“Where are you going tonight?”

 

“I dunno yet, just… Going with the flow I guess. It was Rhys’ idea, really.” 

 

“Hmh.” She hummed, crossing her arms. Jack squinted at her, his smirk turning into a soft smile.

 

“I love you, y’know that right?” When she didn’t say anything, he leaned closer, a familiar glint forming in his eyes. Momentarily Abigail wondered if he looked at  _ him _ like that too. “Don’t you love me…?” He asked teasingly, his smile widening. She tried to hide her smile.

 

“Nope.” She said, popping the p. He chuckled darkly.

 

“No? I thought you did.” She shrugged in response to him, smirking when he stepped into her space, leaning closer to her face. “Well that’s a little mean, isn’t it?” He murmured, eyes lidded.

 

“So?” Her tongue darted out to wet her lips  Jack’s eyes following the movements of the pink muscle.

 

“Ooh, kitty got claws. You oughta be punished for that, don’tcha?” He chuckled again, forcing her against the wall as he pressed his body against hers, her hands coming up to rest against his shoulders, smile widening. A picture flashed before his eyes, of Rhys, against the door, lips glossy and parted, his long legs wrapped around Jack’s waist-

 

-but then their doorbell rang, and it brought Jack back into the real world.

 

“Hang on a fucking second!” He snapped in the direction of the door, before turning back to face her, hand coming to rest up at the base of her throat. “You’re the woman of my dreams, y’know?” She nodded softly. He chuckled and leaned in to kiss her, pulling back after a few moments. He gave her a soft smile as he turned away and walked to the door.

 

As soon as he wasn’t facing her anymore, he let out a breath he’d been holding. Everything about that made the things he had been trying to not think about, take over his entire mind. He opened the door and hastily greeted Rhys, barely even looking at him as he entered the car, opening the door on the passenger's side for Rhys. The boy jumped inside and looked at him in confusion, but Jack didn’t even glance in his direction


	7. Chapter 7

“Fuckin’ hell… How do these even get tangled-- ah, there we go.” Jack straightened out a cord while Rhys watched from aside. They were sitting in Jack’s murder car, as he called it. Rhys had picked the man up and they drove to some garage with a bigger car in it, which Jack used whenever he went out properly hunting. He had wanted to actually spend time with Jack- maybe talk about what happened a few days prior. But Jack just wanted to hunt, or whatever. Rhys was frowinging to himself, but suddenly Jack was waving something in front of his face. “Check out this thing! How friggin cool is that?! I love it, try how light it is.”

 

Rhys grabbed the object, turning it in his hands. It was a small camera. “Woah…” he handed it back to Jack. “It really is light.”

 

“I know! Guess how much it was-” He grunted slightly as he reached over to Rhys’ side to grab something out of the glove box, the slight contact making Rhys freeze up. He rummaged through the box before pulling out a small box with a smirk.

 

“Uhm-- like a- a thousand dollars…?” He asked, unsure. Jack chuckled and shook his head.

 

“No. Eighty!” 

 

“Really?” Rhys huffed, watching as Jack cleaned the lense. He was using one of the cleaning wipes from the small box he pulled out. “Isn’t it bad for it when you do that?”

 

“Nah, as long as you use your shirt or one of these- just don’t use paper towels.” Jack muttered as he looked up into the car mirror and adjusted his hat, attaching the camera to it. Rhys watched him weave the cord through the holes and hummed.

 

“Looks cool, too.” He stated, getting Jack’s attention back on himself again. The man grinned at him as he turned to face him.

 

“Yeah? How’s that?” 

 

“You look pretty good but, uh, just let me--” Rhys leaned into his space to adjust the hat a bit more before pulling back with a smile. “There.” 

 

Jack hesitated slightly, a small blush on his face. He cleared his throat, smirking again. “How do I look?”

 

“Uh- um, y-you look very handsome?” The younger sputtered, averting his gaze down to his hands before looking back up at the other.

 

“Heh, thanks.” Jack said with a grin as he pulled on his jacket and turned his back to Rhys. “Now if you can just attach that to my jacket for me?” The boy nods and soon enough, the wires were all in place and Jack turned to face him, his former grin just widening. Rhys chuckled awkwardly, not sure what to do or say.

 

Then suddenly the older man started hitting his wheel, psyching himself up. Rhys laughed and mimicked his actions, stopping when he heard Jack laugh. He looked back up at the man, just to find him staring at him with a confused and amused expression.

 

“I was getting ready, too.” Rhys said shyly, a small smile on his lips. Jack just shook his head and smirked at him, before opening his door and stepping out. 

 

“Alright, you stay put. I’m gonna get the lesson of the day.” He winked at Rhys and closed the door, leaving Rhys into the car.

 

“Good luck--!” He yelled after the man, his gaze following him with interest and even worry.

  
  
  


Jack had been tracking a woman for a few weeks now. She was a highly respected businesswoman. Scary, but hot as hell. 

 

But what she did with all the money she earned… She ran a dog fighting club, where if the dog didn't fight, it would be tortured until it snapped, or straight up killed. 

 

Jack found out about this because Abigail had been talking about all the dogs they kept finding injured and killed in this neighbourhood, and the man had decided to look into it. Three of the members were already dead, two seemingly from ‘accidents’. Jack knew better.

 

He had gathered proof by sneaking into some of the fights himself, with his little camera in his jacket. He’d printed some pictures that were currently snug inside of a little sealed bag, and no one would even be able to track him with the help of these.

 

He’d found out that she goes on a run at this exact time and she always took the same route too. He waited at a corner for her, he could hear her running towards him. He rolled his shoulders, he couldn’t wait.

 

The second she passed him, he sprinted after her, grabbing her arm while she tried to get away. She screamed. Loudly. Jack sneered and tackled her to the ground, wrapping his gloved fingers around her throat as he strangled the life out of her. He squeezed until her fucking neck cracked, and squeezed a bit more. He grunted, loosening his grip, standing up and pulling out the little bag. He set it right on her face, a small grin growing onto his face once more.

 

He turned the camera off.

  
  
  
  


Rhys had wondered about what Jack did with the videos he records. Maybe he sold them to people, maybe he put them on the dark web. Maybe he kept them hidden in some basement of his, as totems of his work, of how he was making the world a better place.

 

But really, they were all just crammed in one little usb stick, which was currently plugged into the computer, and via that, to the big screen in front of them. They were in Rhys’ house, Vaughn was out for tonight, meeting up with some chick named Yvette. 

 

Rhys was sat on the floor, his eyes glued to the screen, watching how Jack’s fingers wrapped around that delicate chocolate skin, surely leaving a huge, nice, purple fucking mark all around the skin… He cleared his throat, sneering slightly at the crunch when her neck broke. The video reset after a few moments, and he watched Jack run after her a second time.

 

“Hey Jack… Aren't you worried that when they scream, that someone’s gonna call the cops? Or that someone’s gonna like… See you, or something.” A few seconds passed, but the man in question didn’t say anything. Rhys furrowed his brows and glanced back at the man standing behind him. “...Jack?” The man snapped out of whatever daze he was in and looked at Rhys, confused. Rhys repeated his question and the older slowly nodded.

 

“Yeah.” He muttered, walking over to stand by his side, crouching down so that the two were face to face. “But- but you’ve got to realize that not that many people are going to call the police in the assumption that someone else already has.” He chuckled, sitting down properly next to Rhys, eyes returning to the screen. “And besides, the cops are friggin slow, especially in big places like LA.” Jack paused the video and turned his whole body to Rhys. “Think about it. When was the last time you called the cops?”

 

Rhys hesitated, thinking back to that day. “Oh, um, like a year ago?” The older smirked and cocked a brow at him.

 

“Why’d ya call em’?” The boy shrugged and looked down at his hands.

 

“Someone was getting mugged, in my neighbourhood…” He trailed off, wondering if it would piss Jack off that he’d called the cops since they were on the other side of the law now.

 

Instead, Jack just laughed. Rhys looked up at the grinning man in confusion. “So how long did it take for the police to arrive?” He questioned slyly. 

 

“...an hour.”

 

“And while the cops were busy responding, how many other people do you think could’ve been assaulted in that time?”

 

“A lot.”

 

“Exactly.” Jack patted his shoulder before getting up and walking over to the computer. He pulled out the usb stick, digging in a box, that he’d pulled out of his bag, which seemed to be full of all kinds of usb’s. He pulled out another one, dropping the one he’d been holding into the box before putting the box back into his bag. “See, being a good serial killer is about proper risk management.” He smirked at the boy and shoved the usb stick in, the video starting to play.

 

“Who are you killing in this one?” Rhys asked, eyes tracking every movement on the screen. Jack crossed his arms, leaning against the table, watching Rhys.

 

“The first two victims that I recorded.” He turned his eyes to the video, where past-Jack was currently sneaking towards a house in the middle of the night, seemingly looking for a place to get in. 

 

“What’d they do?” Jack didn’t answer. One of the windows was slightly open, and past-Jack had taken advantage of that and opened it fully, silently jumping in. He closed it behind himself, making sure no one saw him. Rhys could hear slight sounds and reached to turn the volume slightly louder, identifying the sounds to be– “Is someone- are they-”

 

“Having sex? Yeah, I killed em while they were, well, busy, so to say.” Jack chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. Rhys just made a gagging noise and frowned.

 

“Why?” He looked away when Jack entered the room of the two people, but looked back when he heard the moans and grunts turn into fearful yelling. Jack had grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him to the ground, swiftly slitting his throat. Rhys swallowed. The camera panned up and the woman came into view.

 

“She broke my brothers heart. Cheated on him with his best friend.” Jack stated, watching, as in the video he tackled the now running (naked) woman and turned her around, his gloved fingers wrapping around her throat. Rhys swallowed. Jack seemed to like strangling people. 

 

“You have a brother?” He silently asked, and for a moment, the only sounds in the room were from the video. He could hear Jack’s uneven breaths and his grunts in the video, the woman's whimpers while she clawed at Jack’s arms, scratching the leather of his jacket.

 

“I cut–” Jack cleared his throat, “I cut her nails and made sure she had no trace left of my jacket. Then I burnt the Jacket.” Rhys looked up at him, wondering why his voice was so strained and weird suddenly. “I have a twin. Haven’t seek him in a long time. I showed him this video, and he… He promised not to tell anyone. I haven't seen him since.”

 

“I… Are you okay?” Rhys asked as he got up, taking a step towards Jack. The older man looked at him in confusion and nodded.

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

“No reason.” 

 

Jack gave him a forced smile, a small blush spreading onto his face. He rolled his shoulders and let out a laugh. “Yep. Okay.” He grabbed his bag and the usb, turning to walk away. “So, uh, I should get going, your roommate is probably heading home soon anyway–” Rhys grabbed his arm to stop him.

 

“He’s actually not coming home tonight at all, you can stay longer.” Jack stood in place for a while, contemplating what to do in the moment. Rhys let go if his arm and Jack sighed, dropping the bag to the ground as he shoved the usb into his jean pocket.

 

“Ah, um. I- I guess so then.” He chuckled awkwardly and glanced over at Rhys, who wasn’t even looking at him.

 

“I actually wanted to talk with you about something.”

 

Shit. 

 

Jack smirked, trying to hide his initial reaction. “Is that so?” He purred, sitting down on the couch, watching Rhys. 

 

“Y-yeah.” The boy nodded, finally looking up at Jack. 

 

“Well?” Jack spread his legs slightly as he got comfortable on the couch. “Spit it out already.” 

 

Rhys let out a breath he’d been holding and nodded once again. “So you remember the whole, uhh…” He motioned towards the direction of where the door of his apartment was, and shrugged. “Y’know.” 

 

Jack clenched his jaw. “...Yeah.” He really wasn’t as prepared for this as he’d hoped to be. He watched as the boy awkwardly made his way over to him and sat next to him. The two of then were silent for a moment.

 

“Did that actually mean anything?” Rhys finally asked, turning his head to look at Jack. The latter avoided his gaze and crossed his arms with a shrug.

 

“...Look, Rhys, I-” He hesitated, not knowing what to say. He groaned. “I don’t know.”

 

“You don’t know.” Rhys repeated. Jack just shook his head and looked at him, uncrossing his arms. 

 

“I have a girlfriend, Rhys. And a daughter. I’m- I’m not gay.” He explained, his expression unreadable to Rhys. The boy nodded.

 

“I understand-” He started, but Jack cut him off, grabbing his wrist and shaking it slightly.

 

“No, you don’t. That’s the thing. I’ve… I’ve never…” He groaned, letting go of Rhys’ wrist and rubbed his face with his palms, frustrated. “Whenever I see your stupid pretty face, I just want to…”

 

“It’s fine, you don’t have to-” Rhys tried to talk again, but Jack wasn’t having any of it.

 

“Rhys, shut the hell up.” He barked at the boy, who shut his mouth and frowned slightly. “Thank you.” He muttered, sighing softly, his eyes closed as he searched for the right words. “What I’m trying to say, is…” He opened his eyes and looked up at Rhys. “I made a mistake. I really do want you, Rhys. I can’t stop thinking about you. But… I have a daughter. I don’t want to take her away from a stable home. I want her to have a normal childhood.” He took both of Rhys’ hands into his own. “I meant everything I said. I care about cha, kiddo. But this?” He let go with one hand motioned between the two of them before grabbing hold of Rhys’ hands again with a soft sigh. “Isn’t gonna be a thing. What happened, happened, and it was… It wasn’t right, Rhys. It was a mistake. I-” Rhys pulled his hands away from Jack’s grip and stood up.

 

“I get it.” He said, grabbing Jack’s bag, staring at it for a moment before sighing. “Here’s your bag. I’m sure your family misses you. Go to them.”

 

“Rhys…” He reached for Rhys, but the boy just shoved his bag into his lap and started to walk away. He stopped at the door to his room and glanced back.

 

“Goodnight, Jack.” He wasn’t going to wait for Jack to leave. The man watched as he closed the door behind him, and after a while, he could hear the bed creaking as the boy had climbed into it. Jack clenched his jaw and grabbed his stuff, heading over to the main door. He stopped for a moment to look back at Rhys’ room. He sighed.

 

“...Goodnight, Rhys.”

 

With that, he left the apartment. He drove off, the lights on in every room but one. He didn’t go home. He just drove around the city, alone.

 

“Shit…”

**Author's Note:**

> All comments all appriciated 


End file.
